


The Next Time

by queeniesye



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Drama, Love/Friendship, Multi, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queeniesye/pseuds/queeniesye
Summary: It's past midnight, and a house owned by someone called "Professor Gast" will reveal truths that will hit Cloud and Tifa.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Kudos: 9





	The Next Time

**Author's Note:**

> Written based on Tifa’s quote on Aerith: “She always used to talk about the next time”. I hope the remake would show more of moments when Tifa and Aerith do have private conversations with one another, and this is my attempt to show how it could be. I also included how I believe Cloud and Tifa would react to the discovery of the videotapes at Professor Gast’s house. It’s a little dramatic

Travelling by foot after exiting the Corel Valley Cave, Cloud and the rest of the crew finally reached Icicle Inn, a small town located on the northern continent. Night was falling, with the skies gradually drowning in darkness from shades of ochre. There were no lamp posts to keep the small ever-snowing picturesque town well-lit, except for lights illuminating from the windows of beautiful cabins lining up the streets. Exhausted and cold from the day’s walk, Cid hastily insisted on Cloud to book rooms for them in the inn so they could rest. Cloud obliged, as he was feeling weary himself.

“It will be 200gils per night, sir,” told the woman at the counter.

Cloud nodded, then started digging through his coin pouch to retrieve 200 pieces of silver gils.

After paying the fees, Cloud handed the hotel keys to the rest of the crew, who immediately went to the second floor to claim their rooms – and beds. Everyone… except for Tifa, that is. She was sitting at the table just across the counter, staring at a doorway beside the staircase leading to the second floor.

“What is it, Tifa?” he curiously asked.

Tifa smiled – jadedly, as always, since the incident at the Forgotten Capital. “I think… I’ll hit the bar. I don’t think I can sleep… yet.”

Then she looked at him, before asking, “Do you want to join?”

Cloud looked at the doorway, with its doormat saying ‘bar’ in big letters… after what they had been through, it was tempting to drink away. Yet, he could feel that his body was drained and in need of somewhere to lie down.

So he shook his head, declining her offer, “It’s alright, Tifa. I’ll just go to sleep, like the rest of them. I’ll join if I still can’t sleep.”

Tifa understood, and they both went their ways – Tifa to the doorway leading to the bar in the basement, and Cloud to a room he was sharing with Barret, and supposedly Tifa.

Despite telling Tifa that he might join her if he could not shut his eyes, Cloud was easily lulled to sleep once his head rested on the softness of the bed’s feathery pillow.

*******

Aerith being impaled was replaying all over again – her upper body slouching forward… her widening eyes and the gaping of her mouth… her ribbon untying, letting loose of her long brown hair… and he felt the excruciating pain inflicted on her flesh as the sword was slowly pulled out of her. He watched as she became lifeless, in his arms… and when he let her go to descend into the waters of the Forgotten Capital.

Cloud gasped, awakened and drenched in cold sweat. He started hyperventilating, and sat himself up to look around and calm himself down.

_Breathe Cloud_ … instructed the voice in his head. 

Gradually… his surroundings were making sense again. _I am in a hotel room_ , he told himself. And he could hear Barret, who were sleeping and snoring loudly on a bed to his left.

It was still dark outside, and Cloud knew it was midnight, the usual time for him to be awakened by the repetitious nightmare.

Maybe he needed a drink or two after all.

*******

Scaling down the stairs to reach the inn’s bar, Cloud could hear the muted conversations, and smell the whiff of alcohol lingering in the air. It was a lot colder, even with the chimney relentlessly burning, but Cloud needed a drink. It was not long before he caught sight of Tifa sitting at one of the bar stools, conversing with a middle-aged man. He took a seat on one of the stools over the counter too, just next to her and ordered a pint of beer.

Recognizing his voice, Tifa turned around and smiled. “So you finally decided to join me, huh?

Cloud did not say anything in reply, but he saw the middle-aged man’s head peeking from behind Tifa. “So this young lady just told me you guys are vacationing here. Out of all places… why must it be here in this awful small town?”

Cloud shrugged, and took a sip of his beer.

“We just… needed a change in scenery,” Tifa answered, with a friendly smile, but Cloud saw signs of her discomfort – a finger slowly tracing the round surface of her glass.

“Well… that’s nice and all, but I’m afraid you can’t go beyond the town to snowboard, or enjoy the hot spring because some Shinra dogs are putting up barriers and patrolling the area.”

“Shinra dogs?” Tifa repeated, surprised and perplexed.

The man grimaced, “Yeah… their special forces. Shinra presence always brings nothing but menace.”

“Were they always around here?” Tifa asked, although she could already guess the answer.

Nodding, the man responded, “Yeah. There used to be a Professor Gast… one of their scientists – or rather, former scientist, living in one of the houses here. I think he was living with a woman. They even had a child together.”

Sensing a foreboding to the story that the man was telling them, Tifa reluctantly questioned again, to keep the conversation going, “And… what happened to them?”

The man exhaled. “They killed him, and took the woman with them.”

Tifa cringed, “But why?”

To Tifa’s disappointment, the man shook his head, indicating that he was not aware of the reason.

“…How long ago did this happened?” Cloud finally spoke up to ask.

“About… twenty-two years ago.”

Hearing the man’s answer stirred Tifa. She quickly glanced at Cloud, who gave her a prompt nod. It was clear that they shared some sort of inkling about who this Professor Gast actually was.

“Is it possible to visit the Professor’s home now?” Tifa probed.

The man shrugged, “Go ahead. It’s at the left, and far end of the town. It’s been abandoned since Professor Gast’s death… I don’t think anyone’s living there anymore, and it’s probably not locked too.”

*******

The scent of rotting wood and rusting metal were suffocating, but Cloud and Tifa were determined to find out if their guesses were right about this Professor Gast. They rummaged through his closet, and read notes he had written but could never understood what they meant. At wits’ end, Cloud began tinkering with the machines near the entrance door of the house, with Tifa suggesting to him to press specific buttons here and there.

After sometime, Cloud noticed something peculiar about the machine they were tampering with, “I think there’s a videotape inside this machine… should we play?”

“Yeah, we should. There might be something in it.” 

So Cloud chose to play the tape, which immediately started reeling. A video appeared on the screen, where two figures could be seen – a man with a white lab coat, and a woman with long brown hair, who reminded them of someone they were so familiar with…

They watched, and listened… until the tape stopped reeling.

When it stopped, none of them said a word.

*******

Strolling through the rocky pathways of Cosmo Canyon, Tifa marvelled over the scenery before her. Tifa enjoyed exploring the place, and it had a pacifying ambience that none of the places they had been to so far could give her. She was ready to head to bed and knew she would get a good night sleep. On her way to the inn, she found Aerith still sitting near the Cosmon Candle. It was one of the few moments where she could catch Aerith acting… not like herself – quiet, and staring into space. And in these times, she understood that Aerith needed company, even if she did not say so.

So she joined Aerith, to which Aerith welcomed with her usual cheery smile. They sat next to each other in silence for quite some time, simply basking in the beauty of the night skies and listening to the calming sound of burning firewood.

“Tifa, you never told me about yourself – your family,” Aerith suddenly said.

Tifa was stunned, and wanted to avoid answering the question.

…Yet, she thought it was only fair to let Aerith know bits about her, considering that she – and the others – had knowledge about some of Aerith’s past. 

“…I lost my mother when I was eight, and my father when I was sixteen.”

“Do you remember anything about them?”

“Not really, to be frank… I do remember my mom teaching me the piano,” Tifa paused to titter, and then continued, “And my dad spoiling me all the time.”

Then she saw Aerith smiled. “That’s nice.”

Aerith started tracing the laces of her dress with her fingers, “I don’t even know what my father was like, or who he was… and my mother? I only remember us trapped in that lab… and her… dying.”

Tifa’s heart ached _. You must be in a lot of pain, Aerith_ , she thought.

“We’ll find out about your father and mother. Let’s do it together. I’ll help you,” she reassured Aerith, sounding as optimistic as she could.

Aerith beamed, “Thanks Tifa!”

Afterwards, Aerith sighed out as heavily as she could, before regaining her usual demeanour, “Alright! Let’s stop talking about this depressing stuff.”

Tifa chuckled.

“What do you want to do when all of this over?” Aerith asked again.

Tifa thought for a while… there was only one thing she could think of, for now. “I guess go back to running Seventh Heaven, and take care of Marlene.”

And then she paused. “You could help us with the bar, Aerith.”

Aerith gasped. “I can?”

Tifa nodded.

“That would be great, Tifa! I can sell my flowers too to the clients.”

Tifa nodded once more, with a chuckle this time, “Of course!”

Colour was back to Aerith’s face; she was lively again – full of hope, and Tifa was relieved. She overheard Aerith’s conversation with Cloud, and knew of her anxieties after their session with Bugenhagen at the observatory.

“We should come here again next time… it’s nice here,” Aerith suggested.

Tifa agreed.

When everything is over, they will come back here and sit around the Cosmo Candle again.

*******

The silence was deafening – and suffocating. Tifa thought of the conversation with Aerith at Cosmo Canyon over, and over, and _over_ again.

“Aerith… Aerith wanted to know,” Tifa stammered, disrupting the silence that lingered awkwardly between her and Cloud. 

“She could have-” she wanted to continue her words, but her throat contracted, her visions went blurry and she felt her cheeks damp with tears that she badly wanted to hide.

Tifa felt and heard herself broke.

So did Cloud, who noticed and gently reached out to rest her head on his chest.

“Sephiroth… Shinra… I hate them all. They’ll pay for what they did to her,” Tifa mumbled, clenching her fists.

Cloud stayed quiet, but Tifa’s words spoke to the rage seeping inside him.

He swore that he will make them all pay. 


End file.
